GUEST BLOGGER: HAYLEE GECAS, COLLEGE HILL MARKETING INTERN + STUDENT AT WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY, PULLMAN, WA

While applying to jobs, I notice that a lot of them expect you to already have experience before you even graduate. Getting experience within your major can be difficult prior to graduation. This can be extremely frustrating! How do you get experience without already having a marketing job? If you're a marketing major, here are some opportunities I’ve had to help gain experience and get me ready for life after graduation.

1. College Hill's Marketing Internship

Getting an internship is an amazing way to gain experience before you graduate. I was lucky enough to get to be a part of College Hill’s marketing internship this semester. We have been working on a rebranding project. This project has allowed interns to research an existing brand and come up with their own ideas to boost customer engagement for the brand we selected.

This project has helped us get experience creating marketing strategies, writing press releases, developing brand/buyer personas and working with design interns to help our ideas come to life.

Brand marketing is the direction I would like to take after graduating, and this has allowed me to be creative and work as a team. If you're interested in interning with College Hill, I encourage you to email info@chthreads.com. College Hill offers marketing and design internships for Washington State University and University of Idaho students.

2. Center for Behavioral Business Research (CBBR)

The CBBR is the marketing research department here on the WSU Pullman campus. Marketing graduate students and faculty run studies throughout the semester to help with their research. Undergraduate students can apply to become a Research Assistant (RA) and help recruit students to participate in different studies.

This is good experience because you can connect with marketing faculty and grad students. You can also work on different side projects. For example, this semester, I was able to work with a former WSU marketing professor on creating a study. Another RA and I got to work with the professor to create the study, run the study and then analyze the data.

I have been able to get more experience on the research side of marketing and connect with more people within the marketing department through this amazing program. Learn more here!

3. Manage Social Media and Website for a Local Club or Business

At the start of my senior year, I was worried about having enough marketing experience, so I reached out to a local volleyball club and asked if I could manage their social media and website. I worked with the Club Director to come up with ideas on how the website could be better for the players and parents. I was able to redesign the homepage, so it was easier to navigate. Throughout their season, I still post practice times, updates and club pictures.

I also mentioned the idea of creating an Instagram because they only had Facebook. I thought this would help them connect more with the players instead of just the parents. I posted tournament pictures and created posters for club updates. This experience helped me learn more about social media marketing and engagement. If you're passionate about a local sport, team, activity, nonprofit, etc., reach out to them! They may just say yes, we need your help.